The most recent comments box has filled up with marvelous insights. So, as the chilly winds of Autumn blow about this part of the world, let's settle back in this "new" room and "talk." May the fire of the Holy Spirit warm our hearts!
As always, you can return to the Cloistered Heart blog by clicking on this line.
Nancy...
ReplyDeleteWhat what I do without your words of wisdom every morning waiting for me : )
Thank you for the reminders and I am now inspired to pick up my copy of Br. Lawrence's book. Great idea.
I am struggling with discerning something and I have been so back and forth with it all that I am getting truly frustrated. Sometimes, I wish the Lord would just *tell.me.what.He.wants.me.to.do.* Even with the assistance of a spiritual director I am floundering. Please keep me in prayer. {I may write you at some point if the Spirit leads me to.}
Thank you for this little peaceful spot...your blog is truly a treasure.
Theresa, thank you. You might just be hearing from me........ :)
DeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteI have been so distracted this last week. You know why. I have found the need to write and process my thoughts, I suppose, but have been unable to concentrate on reading. Does that make sense? But tonight with good news about the fire, I feel a release, and I'm eager to catch up with what everyone has been doing in the world outside my own little world of bushfires!
I devoured all your latest posts. I see you are posting about the monastery again and have moved on from living in the presence of God. I know you won't mind me adding a comment to do with the latter subject. This last week it hasn't been difficult to keep God in my mind at all times. Difficulties cause us to cling to God because we are so aware we need Him. I think in a way sufferings and difficulties are a real blessing because we are very aware we can't survive without God. When life is easy we tend to drift away and turn our minds to other things. Now that life is returning to normal, I shall have to follow your example and put my book in my pocket. It;s such a pity we no longer wear pinafore aprons with huge pockets. We could carry around all sorts of helpful things if we did!
God bless you and THANK YOU so much for all your prayers. This time of crisis has also taught me how very blessed I am in my friends.
Sue, the LAST thing you surely wanted to find here was an invitation to get close to a fire!!
DeleteYes, it definitely makes sense that you would not have been able to concentrate on reading. I've had some bad headaches the last 2 days (from allergies), so I'm way behind in keeping up with others also.
I think you said it very well, that difficulties can be a real blessing because we're aware of not being able to survive without God. Even though I am not writing about the presence of God specifically (although I don't usually know fro one moment to the next :)!), I am hopefully trying to live it, and tomorrow I will be putting the book back into my pocket (although probably not blogging about it). I have pockets in my sweaters (do you call them jumpers?); I also have a few "cobblers' aprons" - cotton vests with pockets that I can slip over clothing that doesn't have them. That way a phone.... and my little booklet... can travel around the house with me.
I do continue to keep you and all there in prayer!
LOVE the quote from St. Faustina Kowalska - makes me smile inside and out, actually I am grinning, almost laughing with joy ..and i am not sure why, which is even funnier..ummm..I think I am locked in His Heart and I did not realize it!!-that is it..thank-you
ReplyDeleteMelanie, your joy is contagious :) :) :) !! Thank you!
Deleteahhh, you do wonders for my inner spirit ; the next quotation is just as joyful ...my heart is a living Tabernacle,
Delete:)
DeleteOh Nancy! Thank you SO MUCH for this latest post (seems you were inspired long ago and recently!). I really needed to read that quote from JP2. I have been struggling so much in my own prayer life...more so than ever. I usually had a 'default' time before the kids got up, but now my smaller ones have been getting up earlier and earlier, and I find myself letting prayer slip through my fingers. Although, yes, I am busy...prayer HAS to be a part of my life. It's not a negotiable thing. I am going to find some time for prayer this morning after the hustle of the morning has gone down, and really try to find a new "schedule". I love the aspirations and letting God come to "you". Which He does, doesn't He? When He seems the intention of a heart trying so hard, He can't help but be moved and come to that soul Himself. I hope He does with me at some point!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jen. Being a grandmother whose children are now grown, I can look back and see how many different "prayer seasons" have passed through my life. Just as I'd get used to one way of doing things, I had to adapt to something new. I love what you said about God being moved and coming to a soul trying hard! What hope!
DeleteThe sparkle of the stars and moon in the early morning sky are such an awesome inspiration for me when up before day break, walking the dog! It fills my heart with great thanksgiving to see such above me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a glorious way to start the day!!
DeleteWow!! Now who would want to leave a pkg unwrapped and unopened??! Yet you describe it so vividly and how often I have done this too! Your blog posts on of the last few weeks have been exceptionally inspirational and
ReplyDeletehave helped me tremendously in my Spiritiual LIfe and Walk with Our Lord. It's been a crazy last few weeks
with out of town Wedding and visiting family....wonderful to see everyone and how I do miss them all, but it got
me completely out of sync and only by the grace of God with spontaneous prayers and tradional ones as well did I make it through it all in one piece : )! He is always showing us what we lack and what we really need and yet we/I seem to get so easily strayed from what is necessary to the 'glitter' of other things. Oh my I just heard an email come through, or no it was a text, what is my family saying or pics they have posted on FB and so on and so on and then the time has flown and that special gift is left unopened!
Yes, I must confess I needed to be reminded to get thing straight again by putting Him first so I am totally energized as that 'energizer bunny' but in His Love and Grace to be what He has called me to be throught this
Day He has Blest me with again....Thank you for this convicting but how so powerful reminder �� God has gifted you with the words I/we so need to hear. May He Bless you most abundantly ✨ Barb M
Barb, thanks so much! I actually thought of the gift idea a lot today myself (thank You, Lord), and keep imaging a pile of unwrapped gifts gathering dust in a corner. I think of how excited we can be (yes, even at my age :) !) to open presents, and of how unlikely it would ever be that I'd say I was "too busy" to unwrap Christmas gifts. I pray to keep thinking of this image. May Our Lord bless you abundantly too, my friend!
Deletenancy you continue to keep it profound and simple at the same time-- brother lawrence in particular is a wonderful resourse-- even my own mind can attempt to met with God on a daily basis and maybe i can discern what He has to say if i am truly open and willing as you do-- we all try and that is the issue the effort and trying and wqnting-- God is good-- all the time:):):) steve (MB)
ReplyDeleteHi, MB! Thank you so very much. Yes, God is indeed good all the time, isn't He? I hope all is well with you and yours, and I pray that you will have a blessed All Saints' Day!
DeleteNancy, I would like to join you in offering the Lord a 'litany of attentions' throughout our days.
ReplyDeleteWhat an inspirational lesson..and practical, as always. You are such a blessing to us!
Thank you xx
Thank you, Trish! And you are an inspiration as well!
DeleteHi Nancy, just saw this quote on my daily calendar on my counter on Sunday morning & I just did not want to
ReplyDeleteturn the page over the next day. It was one of those quotes you could ponder again and again.......Here it is:
He longs to be in you; he wants His breath to be your breath, His Heart in your heart, and His Soul in your soul.
by St. John Eudes. Ahhh! To allow Him to be in us totally and fully so He can work in others He brings in our paths through us! To be that united with Him! Now that's Heaven on earth! May the Lord helps us to surrender to Him more and more each and every day ✨ Have a Blest Day, Barb M
Thank you for sharing this beautiful quote with us, Barb. "Ahhhh" indeed!! And you certainly have an inspirational calendar :)!
DeleteNancy...your posts are balm for the distracted, wounded soul...thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love the litany of attentions...very applicable and it is similar to something I am reading in *How to Pray Always* by Raoul Paul, SJ.
Blessings and love~
Theresa, thanks for your very kind words. I'm not familiar with the author you mentioned... so off I go to look him up :) ...
DeleteSo I shall pick up my choir stall and go scrub a sink. smile-grin- giggle -moving right along to an outright belly laugh- great for any false piety- love it- I took your advice and used the stained glass image of seven angels of the 7 churches for my header- looks brilliant
ReplyDeleteMelanie, it took me more than 24 hours to actually get around to scrubbing that sink!! Yes, it was a literal one, and yes, it literally needed a good scrubbing :).
ReplyDeleteYour header looks AMAZING. AMAZING. Also: AMAZING (did I mention that?)
thank-you fellow art lover..did you know that I save ALL your pics? Do you like the angel that is paire with your quotes? You could choose one that has more of your signature style- feel free
DeleteMelanie, I need a bit of help with this one. I can't find an angel with my quotes, anywhere. Where?
Delete(umm... and did I mention that your header looks AMAZING?...)
on ACWB, just above your quote in the sidebar, that fresco painted by
DeleteBernardino Luini (c1480-1532) , with the orange hues, is an angel
Oh - I love that angel!
Deleteoh good- actually, I KNEW you would- I tried to stick with golds,, yellow and even that orange to contrast with the deep blue and yellow accents in the header but feel free to add an image that says NANCY
DeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteThe Parlor is a place of refuge for me today. I have been feasting on the images you have posted and absorbing the words. Portable choir stalls, litany of attentions... it isn't that difficult, is it? Regular habits, turning our minds to God frequently... just remembering to put God first in our day. Little things. Like you said, it's not what we say but remembering to say something. Maybe not so easy after all!
I always end the day with Night prayer. Even if I have failed earlier in the day to do all I intended for God, He somehow reminds me to say these prayers before I go to sleep. Maybe it's got something to do with those words, "Never let me be separated from Thee" from the Anima Christi I say so often. So I guess God makes sure I end the day in the right place. Now for the rest of the day...
God bless!
Yes (or would that be "no?"), it isn't difficult. And it is. How can something so easy be so hard??
Delete(can you tell this has been a long day :)?)
I love the Anima Christi - I'm glad you made me think of it again.
Thanks, Sue!
Nancy, I'm sorry you've had such suffering, this weekend, but glad, too, for the spiritual consolation and inspiration. I could relate to the bullying - I have thought of it as being attacked. I've related pains to Our Lord's sufferings, as well. Mine is concentrated on the right side which has made me wonder what side, if any, was the focus of Jesus' suffering. And, the mental side - the Agony in the Garden, do you think?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your inspiring reflections:)
Thank you, Vicky! Yes, I definitely think of the Agony in the Garden as the mental side of Jesus' pain. I'm actually glad you mentioned this, as it reminds me to connect "worries" etc. to Our Lord's sufferings.
DeleteGod bless you!
'Hidden, lowly souls - some prophetic, Protestants are beginning to understand the prayer power of those they call the'nameless, faceless ones, God's hidden army..so similar to our idea of Mary's Army,the tradition of contemplatives in the market place or in monastaries.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I cannot imagine being in the Holy Land - especially the Garden. I'm sure words are so very far from adequate to describe the experience.
ReplyDeleteI love your "Litany of Attentions". Yes, why is it so difficult to be at peace with only turning our thoughts and hearts to God while going about our day? As I mature, I realize that it must be better to do nothing and actually focus on Him, than recite long vocal prayer without. Doing, doing, doing instead of being, being, being.
ReplyDeleteEach soul is unique and called to what is best for them at whatever season they are living. I have been called to physical pain as the way I pray best. I also suffer from migraines. I hate them, but offer them anyway. I also suffer from Fibromyalgia. Once, when I was really suffering in pain on the couch, I asked Jesus why he had abandoned me. He replied clearly that day with, "I am here Michelle, in your leg ~ in your pain." I was very comforted by this, even though the pain remained.
Michelle, thank you for taking time to share your own inspiring experience(s). What a blessing to have such a clear touch of comfort. I've had a number of "thorns" (in addition to migraines) to offer up through my life, and I know what it's like to feel like we're abandoned by God. To see Him reach out His hand of love to us is a powerful, magnificent experience. How good is Our God!
DeleteI liked what you had to say about migraines. I suffer from them a bit (but not as much as in high school and freshman (and maybe sophomore) year of college), and I think I'll try to bear that in mind. Or with anything else, really. Cramps, tiredness, anything at all. Saint Therese said something to the effect of "a pin picked up in love can convert a soul."
ReplyDeleteAnd, since it's on my mind, could you pray for my aunt Shirley, who died last Saturday and her funeral is this coming Monday? Just a Memorare or Divine Mercy Chaplet or whatever would be nice. (I like the Memorare. It's short and amazing.)
I shall offer prayer for your Aunt Shirley as soon as I leave this screen. Hers will be a name I'll easily remember, as it was the name I gave to my very first doll (I thought the name was wonderful).
DeleteThanks for the words of St. Therese!
Nancy, I've been away from the blogs for awhile, but as always when I visit here find such peace and refuge amid the toils of life. I'm sorry to hear of the migraines...My son suffered from them for years as a child. I always felt so helpless to relieve his suffering, as I always do today when I hear of one who struggles with them. You're in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteBlessings always +
Thank you, Caroline. The pounding migraines got better, thanks be to God - it had been years since I'd had one of those. My son suffered from them for years as a child too - beginning at the tender age of 4!! He was so young that he didn't understand, and he'd be in panic from the pain. Last week I thought of this, and understood anew how awful that must be for such a young child.
DeleteI like how in the painting in your post today, you can see a man in the mirror. It's obviously the painter, but it's nice to be able to think of it as God hiding in the background but totally there. It fits in with Brother Lawrence's point that we ought to pay attention to Him because He IS there to think of it that way.
ReplyDeleteI liked that too, and was very struck by it when I went looking for a picture to go with the quote. Thanks, Christina Therese!
DeleteSomehow I missed the painting of the woman feeding the fire by Edward Burne Jones paired with the quote from St. Theresa- it grabs my soul, literally..I am going to have to borrow this painting and plaster it everywhere- on my sidebar, in articles, maybe even headers. Evspecially the blue background speaks my language, feeds my spirit.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing the wealth of art we have available at the click of a mouse?? Thanks, Melanie!
Deleteoh- and the young man in the yellow robe today?- that is an image of me when the Spirit shines on me- especially the look of wonderment, slight aprehension at first- I am startled when God shows up whenever, especially when i feel far away or distracted
Delete